Beat Holiday Waste with Reusable Gift Wrap

The weather is getting cooler here in the northern hemisphere, and that means the holidays are upon us! Sure, it might seem a bit early to talk about Christmas and Hanukkah with Halloween still weeks away, but if you’re going to have a low-stress handmade holiday, it’s time to start crafting!

The U.S. generates an average of five million tons more waste during the holiday season, and the bulk of that is all of that beautiful, paper giftwrap that goes straight to the bin after we open our gifts.

Luckily, we don’t have to resort to disposables when it comes to wrapping gifts. There are a few more eco-friendly options out there. Here are some of my favorites.

About the Author

Becky Striepe My name is Becky Striepe (rhymes with “sleepy”), and I am a crafts and food writer from Atlanta, Georgia with a passion for making our planet a healthier, happier, and more compassionate place to live. My mission is to make vegan food and crafts accessible to everyone!. If you like my work, you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

5 Responses to Beat Holiday Waste with Reusable Gift Wrap

LOVE furoshiki. We make the wrapping more meaningful by wrapping in scarves or other fabric that belonged to someone else. For instance, I have a dozen silk scarves from my mother who passed away. I use them to wrap my granddaughter’s gifts. Now they not only get the gift, but a memory of their great grandmother!

I save all the wrapping I receive and re-use it. This past Christmas I only purchased one roll of wrapping paper. Most all of our gifts were wrapped with re-used tissue paper and bows and a few paper bags from grocery store runs where my husband had forgotten to bring in the shopping bags.

My family has been using fabric for gift wrapping for the last 15 years. It’s a great tradition to pass on to your children and great lessons in reuse as opposed to single use and discard mentality.
Recently we have been replenishing our stock at shrapps.com, they have a good selection with reasonable prices.

Now I am thinking about the stack of old fabric calendars / dish towels my husband & I both gathered from our mothers. Does anyone still make these? Wouldn’t the current year be awesome to wrap a baby gift?

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